After all of us are reborn, who plays Go?

"Isn't the final of the Japanese Tengen Tournament over yet?"

"Today's last game is on the same day as your match, but theirs is the last game of a five-game match, while yours will be decided in one game."

Chen Long took a sip from the teacup he carried with him and said something silently.

Zhan Lang scratched his legs. It was already winter, but there seemed to be a lot of mosquitoes. "I thought the finals were going to be a game of chess, but it turned out to be just one game."

“Boss Wang said that the first match was essentially decided by the challenger, but because there was no one being challenged, he won directly.

Whoever wins between you and Fang Yuan, when you come here next time, you will have to play a five-point challenge match with the incumbent Tian Yuan.

Just consider it as the special nature of the first competition, although there are other purposes as well...

Of course, this is next year's matter. The most important thing is the winner between the two of you, this year's match against Japan."

In a sense, this was the first official competition between the top forces in the Chinese and Japanese Go circles.

Previous exchange competitions were basically informal competitions, so they had different meanings for both sides.

Communication and coordination are already underway for the China-Japan Go Tianyuan Tournament, and it has been put on the agenda for both China and Japan.

The venue, time and rules of the competition have not yet been determined. The two sides had a cordial and friendly conversation on this matter, fully exchanged views and enhanced mutual understanding. The talks were beneficial, but both sides had reservations about each other's opinions.

China and Japan certainly both want to hold the competition in their own countries, but Boss Wang, as a sponsor, wants to hold the competition directly in Singapore and do some Go promotion in Singapore at the same time.

After all, the Go atmosphere in Southeast Asia is better than nothing, so it would be nice to have some publicity.

But because of this, there are now three types of competition venues.

Not only that, there are also disputes about the time of the game. The reserved time for Japan's Tengen Tournament is three hours, while that for China is two hours.

The retention times are also different, which also caused disputes between the two parties. Both parties want to use the retention times of their own competitions in deciding the challenge match.

Do not underestimate the impact of time spent in Go games. Being able to use what you are best at and the time spent in most games in crucial games can have a great impact on a player's performance.

Therefore, both sides naturally want to use their own reserved time in the China-Japan Challenge, which will naturally be more beneficial to their own players.

Even the prize money of the competition is controversial. The Japanese side believes that the prize money of the China-Japan Tianyuan Challenge is a bit too low and does not match the appearance fee of their status as players. They hope to increase it a bit.

But in fact, the above problems are all minor problems and can be solved through negotiation between both sides. The most critical issue is whether the competition uses Chinese rules or Japanese rules?
This involves a question of principle and may even involve some disputes over orthodoxy. Both sides are basically unwilling to give in on this issue.

I guess many friends have questions. Now the rules in China and Japan are both that the black player is given a 5.5 point handicap, and the handicap rules are the same. Is there any difference between the Chinese and Japanese rules?

In fact, there is a big difference.

Although both China and Japan still have the rule of black handicap 5.5 points, the rules are different in details.

Some chess fans who have just gotten started have always believed that the only difference between Chinese rules and Japanese and Korean rules is the handicap. For example, in the previous life, under Chinese rules, black was given a handicap of three and three-quarters stones (seven and a half points), while under Japanese and Korean rules, black was given a handicap of six and a half points.

This is reflected in the winning rate of artificial intelligence. According to Japanese and Korean rules, the initial winning rate of white chess is only a few percent higher than that of black chess.

But under Chinese rules, white chess can directly win more than 60% of the time, while black chess can only win more than 30% of the time. Sometimes, even if the four corners are randomly moved, the winning rate of black chess can be directly reduced to more than 20%.

This is why even in an era without artificial intelligence, everyone can feel and recognize that white chess is better at playing.

The burden of seven and a half points is too much.

Therefore, many chess fans who do not understand the rules question why the Chinese rules cannot be changed to six and a half points like those in Japan and South Korea.

But because the Chinese rules are based on counting pieces, if we want to change it, we can only go back to the five and a half points of last century.

Therefore, many people believe that given the obvious advantage of AI in winning rate, Chinese rules are inferior to Japanese and Korean rules.

Japan and South Korea’s rules are fairer and more advanced than China’s rules!

But in fact, it is because people don’t care about other rules except the points.

According to the Chinese rules, all empty pieces are considered territory, while according to the Japanese and Korean rules, only empty pieces and dead pieces are counted. In simple terms, everyone counts the pieces in the same number, but the Japanese and Korean rules have a flaw at this time.

During the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese brought Go to Japan, along with the rules. They used the Chinese rules. However, during the Japanese Warring States Period, which was equivalent to the late Ming Dynasty in China, the Japanese Go Master Sansa formulated the rules of Japanese Go. The empty board opening was abolished, and the return of pieces was abolished. Since the Japanese called the Chinese road "eye", this rule is also called the number method, and Korea still uses the number method today.

The number method does not accept single officials, and it will be very troublesome if it involves a fight for a ko. For example, in Panjiaoqusi, under Japanese and Korean rules, in order to win the ko, you have to fill in your own empty space.

That would result in fewer points, so Japan simply made a hard rule that a corner move of four is unconditionally judged as a dead move, which is obviously a flaw. The Chinese rules solve this problem in practice. In the end, the winner is determined by the number of pieces on the board, and filling a few more pieces in the empty space does not matter.

As far as the final judgment of victory or defeat is concerned, the essential difference between the rules of China, Japan and South Korea actually lies in the impact of closing the pieces. Under the Japanese and Korean rules, closing the pieces does not affect the outcome. Under the Chinese rules, if the black pieces close the pieces, it will add one more point, which will directly affect the outcome.

Of course, the difference between Chinese and Japanese rules is not just that. In fact, many accidents have occurred in the competition due to the rules. For example, Chinese chess players are accustomed to throwing their own pieces back into the opponent's box in domestic competitions, but after the game, the opponent does not admit it, which leads to disputes over victory or defeat. Anyone who is interested can check it out for yourself.

It can be said that many problems have arisen in international competitions due to the rules of Go competitions, but there is no way to resolve these problems because the rules cannot be unified.

"Japan considers itself to be the real kingdom of Go and regards its own rules as universal rules, so it strongly demands that Japanese rules be used in international competitions.

But once this convention is formed, if all international competitions use Japanese rules, it will be difficult for Chinese Go to get rid of its influence in the future."

Chen Long spat the tea leaves in his mouth into the trash can next to him. He was thinking about more than just the issue of which rules to use in this competition.

There will also be the radiating influence that China and Japan will have on world Go in the future.

As far as the influence of Go is concerned, it was Japan that truly promoted Go to the world. Even the English transliteration of Go, Go, originated from the Japanese word 碁.

In the future, Chinese Go will not only have to overwhelm Japan in terms of technology, but also regain the right to speak in terms of influence.

No one can say anything when Japan hosts its own small-scale world Go competition using its own rules. After all, the whole thing is organized by others. You are just a contestant and have no right to make comments.

However, this time it is jointly organized by China and Japan. If Japanese rules are still used, once inertia is formed, will it be customary for such large-scale world events to use Japanese rules in the future?

Even if Chinese Go surpasses Japanese Go in the future, it will be difficult to reverse the inertia of these competition rules immediately.

Others may even think that it is wrong for you to change the rules because everyone is used to it.

"If the rules are not unified, it will be difficult to promote Go."

Zhan Lang remembers that future world champions were often criticized for holding five or six world championships in more than a year, and that there were three types of rules for the world championships. How can a competition like Go be called a world championship?
The global major league competitions for those kinds of sports held once a year are called world championships.

But unfortunately, it is basically impossible for China, Japan and South Korea to reach an agreement on the rules. After all, this may involve an issue of orthodoxy.

"It's difficult."

Chen Long could only shake his head helplessly when he heard this. Just as China always thinks that its own rules are better, Japan believes that it is the center of world Go and must use its own rules.

As both sides refused to give in to each other on this issue, this competition still needs further discussion, let alone sitting down together to discuss the issue of unified rules.

Unless one day China can replace Japan and South Korea as his fathers and become his new father again, there may be some possibility.

On the other side, Wang Xinhao was looking at another old friend who was constantly flipping through chess manuals, crossing his legs with a smug look on his face.

"Well, the gap is huge, right? I don't think the chess skills shown by both sides in this game are worse than those of Japan's top players.

Almost every game in the four games can be considered a famous one, especially the second one.”

Ying Changqi didn't listen to Wang Xinhao's chatter, but just asked, "Is this kid named Zhan Lang really seventeen years old?"

"If we count today, I am just over seventeen years old.

No, why are you crying? "

As Hao Qiang was looking at the chess record, suddenly a line of tears ran down Ying Changqi's cheek, which made him a little flustered. How could you cry like this?

"When Huang Longshi was eighteen, he was not as good as him!"

Huang Longshi, one of the three great chess masters of the Qing Dynasty, played against Sheng Dayou, a well-known national chess master who had been playing chess for more than 50 years, in Beijing when he was 18 years old. He won seven games in a row and became famous. The victory over Sheng Dayou marked that Huang Longshi reached the peak of chess skills in the early Qing Dynasty.

In Ying Changqi's eyes, the eighteen-year-old Huang Longshi is far inferior to Zhan Lang! (End of this chapter)